Media release

GPs call for real time prescription drug database in bid to save lives

GPs call for real time prescription drug database in bid to save lives

23 March 2015

The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) is again calling for the immediate rollout of a real-time prescription drug database to reduce the alarming number of people dying from prescription drug related overdoses.

The RACGP’s renewed calls for a database follows the release of concerning rates of prescription drug related fatalities by Victorian Coroner Audrey Jamieson on the weekend at the International Medicine in Addiction Conference.

Coroner Jamieson told the conference – co-conveyed by the RACGP – that of 384 deaths attributed to drugs and alcohol in Victoria in 2014, prescription drugs were found to have contributed to 82% of cases.

RACGP President Dr Frank R Jones said the number of overdoses involving prescription drugs contributed to more deaths in some states each year than car accidents.

“Across Australia far too many people are dying from prescription drug overdoses and the real tragedy is that a large number of these deaths could be avoided if GPs had access to a national real-time prescription drug database,” Dr Jones said.

“It is difficult for GPs to determine where prescription drug abuse is happening because GPs sometimes have limited access to a particular patient’s medication history. Patients may visit a regular GP and then attend other doctors as a transient patient to obtain more prescription drugs, so-called ‘doctor shopping’.

Dr Jones said while several computerised systems were available, the death toll continued to rise because an effective national system was not in place.

“The RACGP is calling for a national Electronic Recording and Reporting of Controlled Drugs (ERRCD) system to help reduce overdoses from prescription drugs.

“Patient safety comes first in general practice and all prescribers and dispensers of drugs should have access to a detailed database of prescribing information, enabling them to make informed decisions in the best interest of patients,” Dr Jones said.

The RACGP has been calling for a database since last December and is committed to addressing real time prescription drug monitoring and working with government and interested organisations to develop a suitable and effective monitoring system.